Over the last decade one of the most active areas of research in nuclear physics has been the study of systems of nucleons in various dynamical situations. Heavy-ion collisions at beam energies in the range 30-150 MeV per nucleon, where subnucleaonic degrees of freedom can be considered as frozen, allow such systems to be studied in detail. Nuclear

Introduction. Some basic properties of nuclei: static and statistical concepts. Macroscopic and microscopic descriptions of heavy-ion collisions. Basic experimental and analysis tools. Reaction mechanisms. Fast processes towards thermalization. Decay modes of hot nuclei: from evaporation to vaporisation. Nuclear fragmentation and the liquid-gas phase transition. Epilogue. Appendix. References. Index.